All articles by Verdict Staff
Verdict Staff
The cost of money – decoded
Chris Sutton, managing director of Black Horse and chairman of the Finance and Leasing Association, demystifies the cost of lending. As any finance provider will, Im sure, agree, charging the right price for the money they lend is a balancing act. It has to take into account the margin and overheads the finance house has to make to stay in business
Nissan: PCP will mitigate electric RV loss
Predictions that electric cars will plummet in value have been rebutted by endorsement of PCP products by auto giant Nissan. Specialist used dealer group ACF Car Finance claimed last week that electric vehicles purchased today could be worth just 10% of their current price in five years time. The precipitous drop, says ACF, is because after about eight years electric batteries will need replacing, costing up to £8,000.
Fraudulent applications at new high
While FLA statistics showed actual cases of motor finance fraud down 14% over the course of 2010, a separate report by global information company Experian has shown the incidence of fraudulent applications up 31% in the sector, to a level of 38 out of every 10,000. The increase in attempted motor finance fraud was higher than for any other type of finance, although it is likely that the increase in the number of genuine applications brought about by 2009s scrappage scheme inflated the year-on-year change in Experians fraud index.
February drop in car finance sales ahead of new plates
The number of new cars bought on finance by consumers through dealerships in February was down 14% compared with the same month 2010, according to the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA)
March auction boom puts pressure on sellers
Auctioneer BCA reported very little fluctuation in used car prices in March, but said increased sales volumes and falling conversion rates were making life more difficult for fleets selling large volumes of cars Volumes of cars auctioned rose by a significant 11.5% compared to February, underlining a March market that was reasonably bullish particularly when placed in context of the 4% drop in volumes experienced between January and February.
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People on the move
Mark Sinclair, director of BMWs UK multi-marque car leasing and management company Alphabet, assumes a new role with Alphabet International in Munich next month.He takes responsibility for coordinating Alphabets international business development plans, including restructuring the business and its products across the 13 countries in which Alphabet operates. Leasedrive Velo group sales director Joe Howick has been appointed to the newly created position of rental management director at the rental management division of the group, the UKs largest independent privately owned vehicle management company.
People on the move
Gary Dawkins, former sales manager at Fortis Lease, will lead asset finance broker Capitas Finances new vehicle financing subsidiary, Capitas Vehicle Finance Ltd (CVF), taking a shareholding in the business in the process.Having developed experience of funding prestige vehicles at Fortis, Hawkins will develop CVFs offering to dealers looking to finance cars for high net worth customers.”Its the end of the market where there remains a real need for the expertise and flexibility a broker can offer,” Hawkins said.He added that CVF will look to offer variable rate deals through dealers, and will use more than one of Capitas Finances asset finance lenders for credit.Capitas Finance managing director Jeremy Hartill said: “Gary brings 22 years of experience, a proven track record and established market reputation
Casebook: Greg Standing
There has been a further spate of judgments in recent months arising out of the high volume of payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims being brought against lenders I reported on one such judgment in Black Horse Ltd vs Speak in the September 2010 issue of Motor Finance.
Fred Crawley: Dear Diary
So the case is sol-ved”, as the famously bumbling Inspector Clouseau would say, but its hard to imagine that even he would make such an impressive show of the investigations of industrial espionage against three blameless executives, as was made by the management at carmaker Renault
Tony Worthy: Motor month
The Chinese owners of MGs Longbridge plant have unveiled a new saloon car, as the rebirth of the Birmingham car factory goes into overdrive.